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wcb31's review against another edition
"To declare that existence is absurd is to deny that it can ever be given a meaning; to say that it is ambiguous is to assert that its meaning is never fixed and that it must be constantly won."
truly feeling anguish in the face of freedom rn
truly feeling anguish in the face of freedom rn
biofaust's review against another edition
4.0
Not the easiest of readings and maybe a little too dependent on the knowledge of certain facts of the 1940s in France, but the reading of this book, which precedes the publishing of the much better known The Second Sex, gives great insight into that, later sedated, philosophical revolution called Existentialism.
If one is looking for valid arguments against violence, against the idolatry of history and art, and especially if one wants to learn what are the real and intimate repercussions of education and emancipation, this book is a must.
If one is looking for a modern feel-good philosophy telling us to keep alive the child that is in us and that there is no Evil to be committed in the world, one should please read this book because it will give a strong counterpoint to such a person's view of the world.
If one is looking for valid arguments against violence, against the idolatry of history and art, and especially if one wants to learn what are the real and intimate repercussions of education and emancipation, this book is a must.
If one is looking for a modern feel-good philosophy telling us to keep alive the child that is in us and that there is no Evil to be committed in the world, one should please read this book because it will give a strong counterpoint to such a person's view of the world.
agne_sab's review against another edition
4.0
"We are absolutely free today if we choose to will our existence in its finiteness, a finiteness which is open on the infinite."
paging_snidget's review against another edition
4.0
Wow. I found Part I to be quite hard to get through. I had to really be concentrating to parse her meaning, but from Part II onwards things were a lot more straightforward. I agreed with almost all the ideas put forward and at times it felt like I was reading the basic truth of life and not philosophical theory. A worthwhile if at times challenging read.
marxistsupernanny's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Such a wonderful text. The Ethics of Ambiguity is a book I keep coming back to. Not only is the text filled with amazing quotes against nihilism and for an thoughtful active existence, De Beauvoir also situates her ethics in a Marxist-feminist ethics. An ambiguous ethics skirts any ‘ready made’ moral propositions, and instead opts for a Nietzschean genealogy. That is to say, De Beauvoir’s is an ethics of relations between bodies, and how to lead an affirmative existence.
rachaelbee0402's review against another edition
3.0
I did struggle with this for a while. I didn't catch on to a lot of what Simone de Beauvoir said, especially with the descriptions of the Sub-Man, the Serious Man, the Nihilist and the Adventurer etc. (My main thoughts were - who are these men? Are they actually real? Or just ideas? They're all separate but all merging at the same time...)
I understood chapter 3 onwards a bit more, and although she seemed to repeat herself a fair bit, she did have some really wise and decent things to say. I think this may require a re-read sometime in the future.
(I feel like 2 stars is a really poor rating, so I've upped it to 3, though I didn't massively 'like' it since I didn't properly understand a lot of it. Maybe if/when I read it next time I'll enjoy it more!)
I understood chapter 3 onwards a bit more, and although she seemed to repeat herself a fair bit, she did have some really wise and decent things to say. I think this may require a re-read sometime in the future.
(I feel like 2 stars is a really poor rating, so I've upped it to 3, though I didn't massively 'like' it since I didn't properly understand a lot of it. Maybe if/when I read it next time I'll enjoy it more!)
mai_books27's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
This book was a gift from my aunt and came annotated. I'm saying this so my bias is clear, and so we can all understand just how much these pages mean to me. Anyway, Instead of giving a useful review, here is a (mostly unedited) copy of the text I sent my aunt directly after finishing it.
"Hi! I finally got around to reading the Simone de Beauvoir treatise you gave me for graduation, and you were correct…. It was incredible. The power and optimism it expressed while referring to the darkness of the recent past and the terror of the unknown deeply moved me. The idea of acting for something/in the name of something but still demanding justification for those “good” actions in the present is such an interesting lens, and one i believe in wholeheartedly. She articulated such a unique, yet unmistakably truthful, connection between the finite and the infinite. It wasn’t a “nothing matters” existentialism, but an “EVERYTHING MATTERS” existentialism, and it was therefore exponentially more powerful! I loved how this took Hegelian philosophy, totally dunked on it, but still gave me that warm fuzzy feeling. Thank you so much for introducing this work to me..."
"Hi! I finally got around to reading the Simone de Beauvoir treatise you gave me for graduation, and you were correct…. It was incredible. The power and optimism it expressed while referring to the darkness of the recent past and the terror of the unknown deeply moved me. The idea of acting for something/in the name of something but still demanding justification for those “good” actions in the present is such an interesting lens, and one i believe in wholeheartedly. She articulated such a unique, yet unmistakably truthful, connection between the finite and the infinite. It wasn’t a “nothing matters” existentialism, but an “EVERYTHING MATTERS” existentialism, and it was therefore exponentially more powerful! I loved how this took Hegelian philosophy, totally dunked on it, but still gave me that warm fuzzy feeling. Thank you so much for introducing this work to me..."